Moonlight
by cuckoo clover
Summary: While stargazing, a massive downpour douses Russia and China, and so they go back to Beijing. While they do, they properly notice the moon for the first time in a while. (Day 4 RoChu week)


**_This was written for RoChu week for day 4's prompt moonlight! I've… never written for this pairing before, so let's just see how this goes._**

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"You're gonna catch a cold."

"It's alright, I've been through worse."

China didn't pay any attention as he continued to dry Russia's hair with the towel. When it was finally dry, he placed the towel onto his lap.

"There." He folded the towel so that the wet side was on the inside. "Stand up." Russia did as he was told, and China placed the folded towel onto the car seat, which was damp from the rainwater that dripped down from Russia. It would do for now.

Russia sat on the towel, but he looked towards China, concerned. "What about you?" On cue, China opened the glove compartment and pulled out a small hand towel.

"I'm good," he said while he patted dry his arms and shirt. The rain had barely soaked him, just enough so that his forearms became rubbery and his ponytail dripped of rainwater, unlike Russia who was completely drenched when he out again.

There was supposed to be a meteor shower that night. They planned to drive into the countryside to see them, but out of nowhere, clouds blocked up the stars, and then rain fell down. Really heavily as well. And of course, Russia went out to get the picnic blanket before it flapped away.

China placed the hand towel on his lap and they sighed out a breath of relief. The car muffled the sound of the rain that fell outside. It was not as strong as before, but it was still nonetheless raining heavily.

Russia felt a little guilty. Maybe if he had checked the forecast, all this wouldnt've happened.

"Wanna go back?" China asked. Russia nodded, but stayed quiet as he looked down.

"Alright." China started his car, and the headlights flashed on, illuminating the infinite grass field beyond them. He turned the car around to the back where the highway was, and set off.

After a while, bare ground turned to concrete, and with the aid of headlights, he followed the road back to Beijing. There was strong moonlight, but the clouds blurred it up, so that China had to rely on headlights.

"China?" Russia asked after a while.

"Hm?"

"I-I'm sorry. If I checked the forecast, then…" China shrugged.

"Ivan, if 5000 years of history have ever taught me anything, it's the fact that the weather has a mind of its own." Ivan still looked down, gloomy.

"It's alright. Accidents happen."

He noticed that things became brighter so that everything was washed by a pale blue light. When he looked up, he saw moonlight peeking through the clouds as the moon itself shone, free of obstructions.

"Wow, I haven't seen the moon that clearly here in ages!" It was true. Sure, unlike the stars, the Beijing smog never completely covered up the moon, but the lights of the city was always distracting, not to mention the fact that the buildings always blocked the view. It was nice to see the moon so clearly again, actually.

"Hm. I- CHINA IN FRONT-" Out of nowhere, a loud honk blared, snapping China awake, and when he turned around, a blinding white light filled the entire place.

"啊! 艹!" China spun the steering wheel as far as can, and just in time, he dodged the car.

China slammed on the breaks, and the tires skidded to a stop. The honk faded as the other car sped away, and the white light faded back to blue. He sat, traumatised over almost crashing with the car while his ears rang from the residue of the honk. Sure, he had seen a lot of crazy things, but fear was still fear, no matter how much you face it head on.

The tapping rain and the humming engine replaced the honk, and they sat, stunned. It was calm. Too calm.

"We should stop now."

"Agreed."

China parked to the side of the road and turned the car off. He collapsed onto the car seat, and felt tension slip off of his shoulders.

"Too close. That was too close," he panted.

Russia nodded in agreement.

Soon, China noticed a strong glow from his left. He turned his head around and marvelled at the sight before him.

"哎呀, the moon looks really nice from this angle!"

Russia looked left as well, and saw a serene scene from the side of the car. It was true. The moon was big, bright and shining, with a white, misty halo around, no longer blocked by clouds. A couple of dark mountains rested in the distance beyond the field. Beyond the car was an infinite field of knee lengthed grass, shiny from the moonlight illuminated the raindrops, that rustled with the wind. The clouds only parted at the moon, though, so it still rained. However, the rain had turned a light sprizzle, so the whole view was clear and picture perfect.

China pulled out his phone, snapped a picture and set it as his phone's background

Russia chuckled a bit at China's action.

"Hey, it's a nice full moon and I don't get to see it this clearly that often."

"Alright, alright." And they sat for a while, admiring the beauty of the scenery. Pretty soon the rain cleared, though the clouds still hung and decorated the sky with a stormy navy.

"Alright." China shifted back to the driver's seat. "Should we go back now?" Russia nodded.

"Okay." He still felt a bit down, though. They didn't see any meteors that night after all.

China sensed something with Ivan. He undid his seatbelt and he moved to Russia and patted his shoulder. Russia glanced up, curious as to what China had to say. "Don't worry. There'll be plenty of other times we'll get to stargaze." He smiled. "We'll just try again next time. Sounds good?"

"Hm. Alright!" China's optimism never failed to cheer him up.

"Besides, we got to see the moon tonight." Russia nodded as he smiled, content that the night hadn't been thrown to waste after all. A question popped up when he thought up what China said.

"Say, how long had it been since you've seen the moon this clearly?" China scrunched his eyebrows. He looked away and scratched his head.

"eugh… a couple of decades."

"Decades?"

"Or at least a couple of years, my memory's not that great." He thought. "Well, here at my house at least."

And they watched the moon together as they talked.

They went back to China's house in Beijing shortly after. Sure, they didn't see any meteors, but they saw and appreciated the moon clearly that night, and that was enough.

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 ** _Translations:_**

 ** _艹- fuck_**

 ** _啊- ah_**

 ** _哎呀- aiya_**


End file.
